


3 Days + 1

by nicostolemybones (fatherlords), Thwipster808



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Collaboration, Doctor Will Solace, First Date, First Kiss, M/M, Three Days in the Infirmary (Percy Jackson), solangelo, solangelospringball2020, tw injury, tw mild horror inagery (chapter 3), tw poor hygiene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:48:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24178444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fatherlords/pseuds/nicostolemybones, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thwipster808/pseuds/Thwipster808
Summary: Collab for the Solangelo Spring Ball 2020 event!Our take on the classic Three Days in the Infirmary, plus a bonus day.Day 1 and 2 by thwipster808, day 3 and 4 by nicostolemybones. Work by nicostolemybones reposted WITH permission to ff.n
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 13
Kudos: 170





	1. Day 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For @solangeloweek’s Spring Ball event on Tumblr, I worked with @nicostolemybones to write a three days infirmary fic (plus an extra bonus day). I’ve wanted to write a 3 days fic since the beginning, so it was great to finally get it done in my first collab! - @Thwipster808

As Nico jogged up to Will, who was waiting on the steps of the Big House, Will blurted out, “What was that about?” He glanced over Nico’s shoulder at the power couple of camp. Percy and Annabeth seemed wrapped up in their world, as per usual. Though, no one could really fault them anymore. They’d literally been through hell together. Probably no one was happier that the war was over than those two.

“Just saying bye,” Nico rushed out, now standing directly in front of the healer with a light blush covering his cheeks. “He and Annabeth may be leaving soon.”

“Leaving camp?” Will tapped his chin in thought. “I guess that makes sense. Gods know they deserve a freaking break.”

Nico nearly scoffed, “Yeah, if another war happens in our lifetime…” He trailed off, shaking his head. Like he really needed another reminder that, as a child of the Big Three, he would forever be a prime candidate for major prophecies. After all the burial rites he performed recently, he was getting tired of the death that followed him around like a led ball chained to his ankle. He was feeling exhausted just thinking about another war.

“Nico,” Will’s fingers snapped right in front of Nico’s eyes, jerking him out of his thoughts.

“Huh?” he responded, straightening up his stance. Once aware of his body, he realized that he was practically sinking to the floor. Will had a hand wrapped around his forearm to steady him. The hand felt warm on Nico’s cold skin.

Will’s blue eyes bore into Nico’s brown ones, concern evident as he scanned demigod’s face. “You zoned out on me,” he frowned. “Come on, I told you you should’ve come here sooner. Let’s get inside.”

With that, Will shifted his grip down to Nico’s wrist and tugged him along into the infirmary. Nico could do nothing but follow, heat flooding into his cheeks both at the contact and the fact that Will seemed so concerned about Nico. After all, they didn’t know each other that well. Up until that day on the hill, he and Will hadn’t really had a conversation before. Of course, that was Nico’s fault for never being around. Or friendly. Or really giving anyone a reason to be his friend. But still, he was confused as to why Will seemed to care just as much as his close friends did.

As they marched through the infirmary, Nico glanced at the few campers still recovering from the battle. Other than some nasty scrapes or broken bones, no one seemed on the verge of death, which Nico was happy about. He shook his head as his thoughts wandered toward the way it felt during battle, with death surrounding him on all sides. That’s not what he should think about in a place of healing.

Nico was also concerned that his dark thoughts were making his aura of death stronger than normal, or maybe it seemed that way when juxtaposed with the sense of life and light that emanated from the Apollo healers. Some of the conscious campers eyed Nico with suspicion or fear, like he was the grim reaper coming to take them away. Even a few of the healers seemed wary, though they all looked away quickly. When Nico looked back toward Will, he noticed the blonde had the trace of a glare in his expression. He wondered what that was about.

The boys ventured deeper into the infirmary than Nico had ever gone, not that he visited often anyway. He cleared his throat to get Will’s attention. “Uhm, I don’t know if I should be here.”

Will huffed, “Nico di Angelo, I already told you, _three days_. You need to be checked out—I mean, medically speaking,” Nico had no idea why Will needed to clarify that, “—and you are not getting out of it.”

“No, I meant, like, I shouldn’t be _here_. Like, physically in this specific place.”

They stopped in front of a curtain at the back of the infirmary, far from everyone else. Nico wasn’t sure if this made him more comfortable or nervous.

“Why do you say that?”

“Well,” Nico said sheepishly. Wasn’t it obvious? “People come here to get healed. And I don’t do that.”

Will rolled his eyes, but a smile tugged at his lips. “Yeah, neither do the Ares kids, yet we still let them come in, even when the injuries are their own doing.” His eyes softened when he gazed at Nico. “You’re not the harbinger of death, we both know that. Your father is god of the underworld, and riches or whatever. If anything, you and your father care for the dead like we healers care for our patients.”

Nico snorted at that, which made Will smile brightly. “Not quite, Solace, but sure, I guess.” His countenance became nervous once again as he glanced back toward where the other campers were. “I don’t want to make people uncomfortable, though.”

Will was still smiling when he pushed the curtains aside, bringing Nico’s attention back to him. “Well, they’ll have to get used to it. You’re my patient now and no one is stopping me from doing my job.”

Right, caring was Will’s job. _He doesn’t care specifically about me_ , Nico reminded himself. He couldn’t get ahead of himself, couldn’t risk hoping for something that wasn’t really there. Nico sat on the white bed at Will’s ushering, his shoulders sinking in exhaustion he hadn’t even realized was there. The son of Apollo left momentarily, saying something about medical supplies that Nico barely understood.

While he sat there, Nico could feel his eyelids growing heavy. He leaned his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands, pressing his palms into his eyes. He was _so tired_. Nico was always tired, especially given what he went through over the past couple months, but it was like, now that the war was over, his body didn’t have any adrenaline to keep him upright. Part of him was nervous about falling asleep in a semi-public place, but the other part knew he could sleep on the cold, hard floor if he had to.

As he rubbed at his eyes, trying to push the exhaustion away, he started to feel an ache in his neck and shoulders. It’s not like he was surprised, but he realized that the familiar pain had faded into the background as everything else had called his attention. Instead of trying to stretch it out, he just continued to sit, hunching up his shoulders a little.

Will cleared his throat when he re-entered the room, causing Nico to rub his eyes one last time before straightening up. When he looked at Will, he noticed he had a cart full of supplies in tow. His mind became more alert when he realized that all of those medical things were to be used on him.

“That’s,” he croaked, like he hadn’t spoken in a while. He coughed and restarted, “That’s a lot of stuff there.”

Will blushed a little as he sat on the chair near Nico’s bed. “Well, I’m not really sure what kind of injuries you have or treatments you’ll need, so I kind of just… brought everything.”

Nico chuckled, leaning back on his hands as Will grabbed his clipboard.

“Okay, let’s get started.” Will clicked his pen. “How do you feel?”

Nico rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Solace? That’s how you start?”

“It’s a standard question! If you know what needs healing, then we might as well start there.”

“Whatever,” Nico rolled his eyes again. “I’m fine.”

Will raised an eyebrow. “Really? You’re fine? A second ago, you looked like you were ready to pass out right there.”

Nico flushed a little at the observation. “I’m just tired.”

Will hummed as he looked Nico over, making him fidget under the scrutiny. “So it’s gonna be like that, huh?” He placed his clipboard to the side, then said, “I’ll give you my assessment, then you tell me if I’m right.”

Before Nico could ask how he’d do that, Will’s hand darted out and snatched up Nico’s own. Nico instinctively leaned away and tried to pull his hand back, but Will held fast as he closed his eyes in concentration. Nico gulped as he watched the healer’s expression become pinched with concern. Will mumbled under his breath for the next ten seconds before his eyes flew open with a gasp. Nico took the opportunity to yank his hand back, cradling it to his chest like he’d been burned.

“What—”

“Nico di Angelo,” Will cut him off in his stern doctor voice, and Nico’s jaw snapped shut. “So, you’re going to sit here and tell me that irritated and badly healed wounds, torn muscles, extreme exhaustion, and power drain make you a perfectly fine demigod?”

Nico blinked at the slew of information. He wasn’t sure exactly what Will was talking about, but he had a few ideas. Unsure of how to respond, Nico just shrugged at the irate healer before him.

Will pinched his nose before dropping back into his seat and picking up his clipboard once more. He scribbled furiously while Nico looked on. “How did you do that?” Nico asked.

Will glanced up through his bangs before going back to his notes. “Son of Apollo thing. I can get a general health assessment through touch. It varies between demigods, but I’ve gotten pretty good at quick checks because of the wars.”

Nico frowned as Will kept writing. He hated that they all had to say “wars” now, like one wasn’t enough.

“Okay,” Will sat up straight and glared at Nico. “I’ll ask again, di Angelo, and you better not lie. How are you feeling?”

Nico frowned. “I really am tired, I don’t know what else to tell you.”

“Hm,” Will thought, leaning back in his chair. “More specific questions then. Does your body hurt at all? Strained muscles? Headache? Fresh wounds? Bruises? Anything causing you pain?”

The son of Hades tilted his head in thought. He knew things vaguely ached, but what exactly, he wasn’t sure—too used to the feeling, probably. “Um, I guess my shoulders kind of hurt. And my head, probably from being tired.”

Will jotted a few things down before setting the clipboard aside. “Okay, let’s deal with some of that first, though I _know_ there’s a lot more going on.” He shot Nico a glare over his shoulder as he stood up and moved toward the supply cart. He handed Nico a square of ambrosia, who gratefully accepted and began taking small bites of it.

“Just for some of the general pain. You’ll need actual rest for the fatigue once we’re done.” He moved to crouch down next to Nico. “Can I take a look at your shoulders? I’m going to just roll up your sleeve for now to assess the damage.”

Nico nodded, only flinching slightly when Will’s fingers brushed his bicep. Will smiled at him as he pushed up the right-side sleeve. Once it was up, however, his eyes widened and he gasped. Nico tried to get a glimpse of what Will was looking at, but it was a little too close for him to see. But, knowing what the injury was from, he’s not surprised that it’s still bad. “Monster attack,” was all he said.

“Oh gods, Nico, I can’t believe you said you were fine. Doesn’t this hurt?” He touched his fingers lightly to the angry red skin on Nico’s shoulder, all puffed up around what was clearly a nasty gash. Nico shivered at the touch and stared straight ahead.

“It hurts a little, but it’s been a while, so I’m probably just used to it.” He heard Will let out a disbelieving huff, staring a little longer before quickly going back to the cart.

He pulled out an ice pack, saying, “We’ll use this to keep the swelling down for now. The ambrosia should be enough for you to rest easily and we can treat it tomorrow. I’ll check your other shoulder too, just in case.” Nico nodded as Will moved to his other side, taking the ice pack and holding it in place. This time, he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when the sleeved was rolled up and no wounds were present.

Will stood and wrote down a few more things on his clipboard. “Okay, Death Boy, we’ll do more treatment things tomorrow, I think today, we can focus on rest. You look like you’re ready to pass out.”

Nico narrowed his eyes at the son of Apollo, swallowing the rest of his ambrosia before saying, “Really? Death Boy?”

Will smirked, and it was a look Nico hadn’t seen yet on Will and _okay that’s something_. “I have a few other names in mind. We’ll test them out and see what sticks.” He turned toward the cart and began packing it up. “Be right back,” he threw over his shoulder while pushing the cart out of the curtained-off area.

Alone again, Nico continued to hold the ice pack in place, feeling marginally better as the ambrosia began to kick in. He didn’t exactly forget about the injury from Lycaon, but he will admit that it didn’t cross his mind to get it looked at at the infirmary. Reyna and Coach Hedge had done enough for him to be in fighting condition, so he figured it would heal on its own.

Nico pulled his legs up onto the bed and leaned back, suddenly realizing how tense he had been this whole time. As he rolled out his neck, he felt exhaustion tug at his mind. But he couldn’t sleep yet, he didn’t know if Will was done! His body, however, had other plans as he felt himself sink into the cot and his eyes slipped shut.

He heard the curtain rustle, followed by a soft chuckle. Will slid the ice pack from Nico’s loose grip and shifted his arm down to his side. The touch was light, but still present. Nico made some kind of sound in an attempt to say… well, something, he didn’t know what. But Will shushed him, smoothing a hand over his hair.

“It’s alright. You can sleep now. Get some rest, Nico.” Then, Will began to lightly run his fingers through Nico’s hair, probably a natural comforting gesture. To Nico, it felt like warmth was radiating out from where Will’s fingertips brushed against his scalp. He felt his whole body relax, down to the tips of his toes. The ever-present ache in his bones subsided a little, and Nico felt a peace he hadn’t felt in a while.

He fell asleep to soft hums and small comforts.


	2. Day 2

Will was practically dead on his feet at this point. Working for the past few days straight, not including the entire battle that came before, he could feel the exhaustion pulling at his limbs. In moments of weakness, he considered curling up under his desk and napping right there. Instead, he’d shake his head and focus on what he was doing.

_People are in pain, people need healing, I need to keep going._ He knew this thinking wasn’t great for his health, but it helped him do as much as he could during the many battles they’d all been through. Besides, at some point, one of his siblings would always kick him out and force him to sleep in their cabin. It usually worked out.

Now that everything was winding down, he finally had time to track the son of Hades down and forcibly help him. He knew for a fact that Nico had been a major part of defeating Gaea, which also meant that his body needed some major recovery time. Will was honestly a bit surprised that he got the boy to come in so easily, but Nico had looked overtired, so maybe he just couldn’t protest anymore. Whatever the case, seeing Nico di Angelo, scary-emo-death-boy number one, sleeping peacefully in front of him, he knew he made the right move.

It’s always annoyed Will, how everyone judged Nico just because he was the son of Hades. He remembered him in the battle at Manhattan, where Nico really saved everyone at the perfect time. Even Will, as he frantically healed as many people as possible, stopped to watch the raw power of the prince of the underworld. It was frightening to know that one boy held so much power, but it was clear that he wielded it for the good of others. Will was glad that Nico was on their side.

Will yawned wide, jaw cracking, and he looked at the clock. Only 10 PM, he could still get a little more done before the night shift took over. He glanced again at the sleeping son of Hades, reluctant to leave him there.

When Will exited the curtain, he came face-to-face with Austin. “Dude, Will, it’s time for you to leave.”

“What?” Will asked, confused. “My shift goes to 11.”

Austin just shook his head. “Nu-uh. Nope. You’re leaving the infirmary and going back to the cabin to sleep. You’re tired and you know it.” His words left no room for argument.

But Will tried anyway. “But it wouldn’t be fair to whoever’s taking over.”

“I’m taking over, and I’m saying it’s fair. You’ve been here for days, Will.” He put a strong hand on his older brother’s shoulder, comforting, but firm. “You have to rest, you know that.”

Will sighed, glancing back toward the patient behind the curtain. “Yeah… but I finally got Nico here, and I don’t think I should leave him.”

Austin chuckled at that, peering around Will. “I can’t believe you got him here. I thought he would’ve bitten your hand off if you tried to touch him.” Will shot him a tired glare, like he’d heard the kind-of-not-a-joke too many times. “Look, I, quite frankly, don’t want to be the only person here when di Angelo wakes up, so let’s compromise. You sleep in that bed there,” he pointed to the bed neighboring Nico’s, “while I work the infirmary. If he wakes up or anything, I’ll get you. Otherwise, you _will sleep tonight_.”

Will nodded solemnly and saluted his brother, who scoffed and shoved him toward the aforementioned bed. It’s not like Will didn’t want to sleep, _gods, did he want to sleep_. But he was a “workaholic” according to his siblings and usually needed someone to look out for him. He was also immensely proud of his siblings as they’d been stepping up to help a lot in the past few weeks.

Will cast one last look toward Nico’s curtain before collapsing into his bed and knocking out instantly.

\--

Will awoke to a loud cracking sound and his whole bed shaking.

He jolted upright and confirmed, yes, his bed was shaking, along with the entire infirmary. He thought it was an earthquake before he heard a strangled scream from the bed next door.

“Will!” Austin shouted, but Will was already out of bed, leaping over the one foot-wide fissure in the ground. He turned to see Austin a few feet back from Nico’s bed, his hands out in front of him and his face frozen in fear.

“What’s—”

“I don’t know! His powers are acting up!” Right as Austin said this, Will noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He spun around to see a hand clawing its way up the opening in the ground. He spit out a curse in ancient Greek, grabbing the closest thing to a weapon that was in reach—a mop, apparently—and brought it down on the decaying hand. The zombie flinched back, but more were on their way and, surely, they needed more than a mop to stop this.

Will shoved the mop into Austin’s hands. “Hold them off.”

He didn’t wait for his brother’s reply before he rushed to Nico’s bedside. The son of Hades was thrashing in his sleep, his face contorted in a mess of fear and pain. Will normally didn’t wake people when they had nightmares, knowing it was a normal process of the brain and especially common for demigods. But this was dangerous, something had to be done.

“Nico,” Will went for a softer tone, hoping that he could calm the boy down in his sleep. “Nico, listen to me. You’re in the infirmary. You’re safe. Please, calm down.” Will pushed as much meaning as he could into his words, threading his hands through Nico’s hair like he did earlier. Nico was sweating and his breathing was frantic still. Will began to sing a hymn to his father like he did while healing, pressing his palms to Nico’s head and cheek. Dark tendrils were leaking out between Nico’s fingers where he was clutching at the sheets desperately.

“Come on, Nico. I believe in you. I’m here for you. You’ve gotta calm down for me, okay? I’ve got you.” Will leaned over and pressed his forehead to Nico’s, pulsing his healing powers out from where they connected. “I’ve got you.”

Nico immediately stilled, his breathing ragged but slowing down. Will tentatively opened his eyes and gazed down at the son of Hades. His eyebrows were drawn together, but the panic had subsided. Will leaned back, trailing his hand down Nico’s arm to grip his hand. He looked back toward Austin, who was still wielding the mop and staring at the ground. Will looked down right when the fissure closed up, leaving only a thin crack behind.

The brothers met each other’s gaze, nodding as soldiers did at a job well done. Austin’s eyes flicked over to Nico, who was still asleep. Will rubbed his thumb across the back of the hand he was holding, staying there until the son of Hades was fully back to sleep.

Will sighed and stood up, placing Nico’s hand gently back at his side. Austin shook his head, but instead of making some snide comment about Nico’s heritage, he said, “We don’t get paid enough to clean up the gods’ shit.”

Will chuckled, knowing there was nothing really to say about that. He placed a comforting hand on Austin’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “Thanks, Austin.”

They continued with clean up for a little before Will was directed back to bed. All he could think about as he fell asleep once more was the pain on Nico’s face. _We’ve got a lot of healing to do_.

\--

Will woke at the crack of dawn like normal, and despite the interruption, last night was the most sleep he had gotten in a while. He pushed himself out of bed, cleaned up a bit in the infirmary bathroom, and walked over to his desk, where Austin was slumped over some paperwork.

He gently shook his brother awake. “Hey, Austin. You can go back to the cabin, I can take over.” Austin grumbled as he woke up, rubbing his face.

“Ugh, Will, isn’t it someone else’s turn this morning?” He yawned wide. Really all of the healers had been going non-stop, not just Will.

“It’s fine, Austin, I slept last night. I’m still head medic, anyway.” Will chuckled as his brother rolled his eyes at him, finally standing up to leave.

Then, he suddenly looked more alert when he noticed the line across the ground. “Wait, oh shit, you remember what happened last night?”

Will frowned, but it wasn’t directed at his brother. “Yes,” he muttered as he glanced back to where Nico’s curtain was still pulled closed.

“Dude, that was crazy. I don’t think you should be here alone with him.”

“It’s fine. He was having a nightmare. We know a lot of demigods’ powers are linked with their emotions.” Will tapped his chin in thought. “I’ll talk with Nico to learn more about it today. But I’m going to sanitize this area for now. Don’t want any zombie remains in my infirmary.”

Austin shuddered. “That’s nasty. I’ll send over whoever else is on shift to come and help.” He then smirked when he met Will’s eyes. “Seemed like you had di Angelo all under control last night, though.”

Will felt his cheeks heat up. “Shut up, this is serious. I just did my job.”

“Mhmm,” Austin hummed as he strolled out of the infirmary. “Sure thing, Doctor Solace.”

Will stared after him for a minute before shaking his head and sitting at his desk. He looked over what Austin was working on, trying to focus on something else besides the brown-eyed boy behind the curtain. After some preliminary checks, Will began to pull out cleaning supplies. He crouched on the ground and ran a finger over the newly formed crack in the ground. It seemed fine. You would never know that there was a gaping hole there last night.

Ten minutes later, two of Will’s siblings stumbled into the infirmary. They greeted each other with a tired “good morning” each. Will only said that this area needed to be decontaminated. No one really needed to know the context—it was an infirmary, after all. All kinds of things happened in here.

As the others finished cleaning, Will washed up and went to check on Nico. He slipped behind the curtain, happy to see that Nico was still asleep. He was worried that Nico wouldn’t be able to sleep long after his nightmare, but he seemed fine now. Will blushed at the memory of pressing his face so close to Nico’s. At the time, Will was only thinking about how best to help Nico, but now he couldn’t help but be a little embarrassed by his actions. But it did help Nico calm down, so he wasn’t going to overthink it.

Will sat in the chair by Nico’s bed and looked over his clipboard. He frowned in thought, pondering over what he knew of Nico’s condition and how to treat everything. As he mumbled to himself, Nico stirred and slowly opened his eyes. Will looked over to see Nico rubbing his eyes and looking around, slightly disoriented from his setting. _How cute_ , Will thought before he could stop himself.

He shook his head before clearing his throat. “Mornin’, Sunshine.” Nico turned his head toward the sound of Will’s voice, finally remembering exactly where he was. He groaned and threw his arms over his eyes in response.

Will laughed lightly and asked, “Sleep well?”

Nico groaned again before moving his arms and staring up at the ceiling. “I feel like I’m more tired.” He flexed his fingers, like he knew how tense they were throughout the night.

“Well, I have a few possible answers to that.” Nico swiveled his head, staring at Will in surprise. Will raised an eyebrow. “What? It’s my job to figure out what’s wrong, then hopefully fix the problem.”

“I guess, I just…” Nico trailed off, now looking confusedly at the ceiling. “I didn’t really think there was an explanation, I guess.”

Now, there was an interesting thought. Will hadn’t considered that Nico hadn’t considered finding a solution to his fatigue and exhaustion. Maybe the son of Hades wasn’t stubborn, he just never cared for himself properly before. Will hummed in acknowledgement as he jotted a quick note to be really clear in any future treatment instructions for Nico.

“Okay, first thing to address: you had a nightmare last night.”

“What?!” Nico burst out, sitting straight up and looking at Will with a slightly horrified expression.

Will put his hands out in front of him in a placating manner. “Don’t worry, it’s fine. Austin and I were both here, and we handled it. You’re fine.”

Nico gazed down at his hands, which were slightly shaking now. “A nightmare… you said it could explain why I’m tired.” He looked up at Will. “I used my powers last night, didn’t I?”

_He caught on fast_ , Will thought. “Yes, you did, but—”

“What did I do? Was anyone hurt? Did I destroy anything?” Nico glanced around frantically, looking for any signs of damage or any newly filled beds.

Will wanted to reach out like he did last night and help comfort Nico, but he wasn’t sure if that was welcomed at the moment. “Nico, look at me.” He waited for them to lock eyes before continuing. “You’re fine. We’re all fine. No one got hurt, we’ve decontaminated the area for any zombie—”

“Oh _gods_ , I summoned zombies??” Nico seemed on the verge of despair, like Will was about to kick him out for something out of his control. Will really wanted to cry for the kind of expectations Nico had about his life, but he managed to hold back.

“You tried to summon zombies. Austin and I stopped it, and you actually calmed down enough to control your powers.” Will reached out, but Nico pulled his hand back, as thought he would hurt Will. “Nico, please, I promise it’s okay.”

Will slowly reached for one of Nico’s hands, and this time, Nico let him make contact. Will pushed out his power through his fingertips to where he touched the back of Nico’s hand. Nico’s posture relaxed immediately, his eyes fluttering shut as a sigh escaped his lips. Will smiled at him when he opened his eyes again.

Nico’s lips lifted upward for a brief second before he looked down and hid his face behind his bangs. “I’m really sorry about that. My powers are… difficult, sometimes.”

Will shook his head, not that Nico saw. “Everyone’s powers get out of hand at times. You’re extremely powerful, so it’s no surprise that they’re hard to control. Honestly, you utilize your powers really well, I’m sure it’s not easy.”

Nico looked back at Will, his mouth slightly open as he was taken aback by the words of praise. Will held his gaze and tried to convey his sincerity about what he said.

Before the silence could stretch on too long, Will spoke again. “So, yes, you had a nightmare and used your powers, _accidentally_ , last night. You were already suffering from overusing your powers, so the extra usage didn’t help.” Addressing whatever he was dreaming about that made him react so strongly would have to wait for another time.

In the pause, Nico’s stomach grumbled loudly. Nico flushed red as Will chuckled. “Which brings me to my next point: you need food. You’re malnourished, as I’m sure you weren’t concerned with proper, nutritious meals while carrying the Athena Parthenos across the ocean.” That got a snort out of the son of Hades, which Will counted as a win.

The healer got up and grabbed a plate of food his sister had brought over from the pavilion. It was standard for the morning shift to come in with food for the overnighters. Nico got his own full plate per Will’s instructions, which he only got minimal teasing for.

Will placed the food on Nico’s bedside table. Nico scowled at the food and said, “I can’t eat all that.”

“We can share,” Will said before he lost the nerve. “But you’re going to have to eat as much as you can.” He moved toward the food first so that Nico felt more comfortable. It worked as he watched the son of Hades tentatively nibble on some toast.

A little into their breakfast, Will continued with his diagnoses. “So, aside from power drain adding to your tiredness, it sounds like you also have chronic fatigue.”

Nico looked confused, so Will added, “It’s a condition where you’re often tired for long periods of time, even if you slept a decent amount. You may also experience headaches, body aches, or lack of concentration.”

Will let that sink in, watching Nico mull over it for a minute. Then, the boy spoke up and said, “That makes sense.”

That really wasn’t what Will wanted to hear. “It does?”

Nico nodded. “I think so. I mean, I’m always tired, but I usually don’t get enough sleep, so I figured it was that. I didn’t know there was a name for it or anything.” Nico looked less concerned and more thoughtful. Did he never think to diagnose his symptoms as something treatable? Ever?

Will couldn’t really wipe the genuine concern off his face, so he turned toward his clipboard to write things down. “Well, this will require a bit of a lifestyle change. Actually, probably a lot of change for you. No underworld-y stuff, mister,” Will wagged his pen at the son of Hades, who rolled his eyes. “I’ll be developing a treatment plan for you over the next couple days.

“While I’m at it,” he turned back toward Nico, who had started on the pancakes. “You probably also have chronic pain. I’m guessing your body usually hurts, at least a little?” Nico hesitated before nodding. “Yeah, chronic pain and chronic fatigue can get mixed up sometimes since both may cause symptoms of the other. But, considering everything you’ve been through, I’m guessing the normal symptoms of both conditions have been overshadowed by, ah, everything else. Not that I think you’re recovered from the entire war yet, but I have a feeling that those underlying conditions are there.” Will’s lips pulled into a thin line as he thought about what he just said. Nico had gone through so much in both wars, and probably outside of the wars, too. His body has endured a lot of strain, it’s a miracle it hadn’t snapped yet. The gods really didn’t give this kid a break, did they?

Nico sighed and rolled his shoulders back. “Sure, why not? At least I’m probably used to it by now.” The son of Hades gazed upward, like he wanted to ask the gods _why_ , but he was tired of it by now.

Will shook his head. “No, you deserve better than that.” Nico whipped his head back toward Will, eyes wide. _Why is it that painful diagnoses are fine, but care from others is out of the ordinary?_ “You do, Nico. I promise, I’ll do whatever I can to help take that pain away. The gods owe you a break from all… this,” Will waved his hands around at nothing, but he knew Nico understood. Will huffed out a breath, upset that he couldn’t do as much as he’d like to help.

“I didn’t know,” Nico began quietly. He peeked up through his bangs at the son of Apollo before quickly looking away again. “I probably wouldn’t have admitted to—to having chronic pain, before today. I didn’t realize it until you used your powers on me.”

Will sucked in a breath. “You—”

“I’ve never felt… nothing before that.”

Will was not going to cry for Nico’s pain right now, he was _not_. Instead, he held out his hand, palm up, a clear invitation. Nico eyed it for a second before slowly, hesitantly, lifting his own hand and settling it lightly in Will’s. Will closed his hand around Nico’s with barely any pressure, not wanting to crowd the son of Hades or make him uncomfortable. He smiled, holding Nico’s gaze as he pushed out some of his healing powers. It didn’t actually heal, but it soothed nerve endings to bring temporary relief, which was very useful as a medic. But right now, as he watched the son of Hades nearly melt and the sensation, Will believed the entire purpose of his power was for this boy before him, who deserved peace and freedom from pain so, so much.

After a moment, Will gently lowered their hands. Nico’s eyes fluttered open and for a second, Will saw the eyes full of peace and joy. He really wanted to see that again. Both boys had blush painting their cheeks when they pulled their hands away.

“Hey, Will, could I—”

Will sprung backwards, away from Nico, at the sound of his sister’s voice. Nico jerked back as well, nearly knocking over the plate of food near him. Will’s sister stood just behind the curtain, unaware of the panic she just caused.

“What?” Will squeaked.

“Um, I wanted your opinion on the Ares boy. Are you—” The curtain rustled where she touched it.

“Fine!” Will called. “I’ll be there, just a sec.” He glanced back at Nico, who was red in the face and decidedly not meeting Will’s eyes.

“Sorry, I’ll be right back,” Will mumbled as he shuffled out through the curtain.

When he met his sister’s eyes, she looked concerned for all of two seconds before her smile turned sly. “If you’re too busy with your _patient_ right now, I can probably—”

“Shut up and show me the problem,” he grumbled, moving past her and grabbing the clipboard from her hands as he went. The daughter of Apollo chuckled and followed, thankfully choosing to discuss the patient’s treatment plan and not her older brother’s flaming cheeks.

When Will returned, he found Nico staring out the window of the infirmary, which really only offered a view of the sky above. His breakfast, only halfway eaten, was pushed to the side. Will smiled at Nico as he cleared the plate away and straightened up things on his supply cart. He sat back in his chair with an exhale and picked up his clipboard again. But before he could say anything, Nico asked, “Aren’t you tired?”

The question caught Will off guard. “Huh?”

Nico twisted the skull ring on his finger nervously, but elaborated, “Didn’t you say you’d been working here for days? Shouldn’t you take a break?”

Will was caught by the worried expression on the son of Hades’s face. “Um, well I slept last night, and that was honestly pretty good.”

This only deepened Nico’s frown. “But I interrupted you.”

Will shook his head. “It wasn’t your fault, Nico. And still, I got a good amount of rest. But thank you for your concern.” He smiled, hoping to convince Nico to drop the subject, but also touched that he seemed to care so much. Though the hypocrisy of his words was borderline ridiculous.

Nico clearly wasn’t convinced, but Will began talking before anything else could be said on the subject. “So, to get back to your injuries we didn’t really address yesterday, I’m going to need you to take off your shirt.”

There was a solid three seconds where both boys just sat there, until Will’s words sunk in and they were back to being a blushing mess. Will, ever the professional, cleared his throat and said, “I need to get a good look at your injuries to start healing them, and since you’re awake, I won’t have to cut your shirt off.” Will was truly digging himself a hole that he could never climb out of. He really hoped his siblings weren’t listening right now.

“I-I-um, yeah, okay.” Nico, for his part, didn’t immediately shadow travel away. So that was good. “Like, right now?”

Not trusting himself to say anything intelligent, Will simply nodded and focused on his clipboard, attempting to give Nico some semblance of privacy while he stripped his shirt off.

Will didn’t notice Nico was done until the boy quietly cleared his throat. Will looked up to see a bare-chested son of Hades with a blush that spread down his neck. _Don’t stare, don’t stare, don’t stare,_ Will chanted to himself. But it was so _hard_ because Nico was a _warrior_ meaning that he had muscle on his slender body that was apparently always swallowed up by his shirt or jacket. Not only that, but he had scars littering his torso. Will almost desperately wanted to reach out and touch them. Not in a weird way (okay, it’s a bit weird), but more of a reverent, almost sad touch, like he could take away the pain that caused the scars through touch alone. As head medic, Will has learned how to deal with the scars of demigods. He’s learned not to touch or to ask, just focus on the problems he was meant to deal with. But he’d never seen any demigod Nico’s age with as many scars as he had.

Will kept his eyes pinned to Nico’s right shoulder, maneuvering around him so he could get a good look. The gash was still a faint red, like it was irritated, and possibly previously infected. “I’m going to touch you, okay?” Will warned, getting a nod in response. Will gripped Nico’s outer shoulder to steady him as he continued his inspection. The wound wrapped from the front of Nico’s shoulder over and down his upper back. The deepest part seemed to be at the very top.

“Can I ask what caused this?”

Nico nodded again and spoke quietly. “It was, um, Lycaon. Reyna, Coach Hedge, and I encountered him while we were coming back.”

Will bit his tongue as he immediately wanted to yell. This was from someone as dangerous as Lycaon?? And he hadn’t come in to get it treated?? He took a deep breath before starting, “Nico…”

“I know, I know,” he huffed. “Reyna and Coach had fixed it up, I didn’t really think about it. It was fine enough for me to fight.” He tried to shrug his shoulders, wincing slightly now that he was really aware of the injury.

Will shook his head. “I get it. Just, come in sooner next time, okay?” Will stepped back and went to grab some ointment from his supplies. “Luckily, Hedge knows satyr healing magic, so he probably prevented any major infection.”

The healer turned back with a green salve in his hands. He got to work on Nico’s shoulder, operating in a focused silence. Nico sat there and avoided breathing too deeply so he both didn’t move his shoulder and didn’t smell the weird minty-medicinal scent of the ointment. The salve felt cool on Nico’s shoulder, though it definitely stung. Nico hissed through his teeth when Will was at the deepest part. The son of Apollo mumbled out an apology, but they both knew Will had to put more there to clean out the wound better. All in all, it didn’t seem to be as painful as Will expected, though he knew Nico had an extremely high pain tolerance.

Once Will was finished, he washed his hands and grabbed a roll of bandages on his way back to the bed. “We’ll just keep that for now and check on it daily. The salve should help push out any remaining infection and soothe the irritated skin around the wound. It may or may not need stitches later, but let’s just get it wrapped up, and we can be done with it for now.” Nico lifted his arm and was pliant as Will wound the bandage up and around his shoulder.

“So, Neeks,” Will broke the silence while he worked. He saw Nico make a face out of the corner of his eye at the nickname, making Will grin. “What is your favorite color?”

Now Nico just looked confused. “Why?”

Will rolled his eyes. “Because I’m curious. It’s a basic question, Ghosty.”

“Really? These are the nicknames you came up with?”

“I’ve got more, and I will use them all until you answer my question, Death Breath.”

“Tch,” Nico turned his head, but Will could’ve sworn the boy was fighting back a smile. “Blue.”

“Really?” Will asked, surprised. They met each other’s eyes as Will tucked the end of the bandage back in. “What shade?”

Nico cocked his head, and _that’s just adorable_. “Not sure yet.”

That was an odd answer that Will was not going to overthink at this moment.

“Okay, Mister Mysterio. My favorite color is black.”

“Really?” Nico didn’t believe him at all.

“Okay, fine, it’s yellow,” Will grinned brightly.

Nico scoffed, “Of course it is. Typical Apollo kid.”

Will put a hand to his chest in mock offense. “Well, excuse me, we can’t all be mysterious and cool like you, Prince of the Underworld.”

That got a breathy chuckle out of Nico, which was as close to a full laugh as Will had gotten thus far, so he was over the moon.

Will glanced at the clock, then jumped up in surprise. “Oh! It’s past lunch already!” He smiled sheepishly at Nico. “Sorry, I get caught up in my work easily. I’m going to go get us some food, be right back!” He bounded right out of there without waiting for a reply, largely because when he looked back at Nico, he realized he was _still shirtless_ and they had just been joking around in close proximity and _wow_ , Will was really pushing his luck on not messing up a new friendship (maybe more, Will’s not ready to talk about that just yet).

When Will came back with a full plate of food for the both of them, Nico was leaning back in bed, shirt on and eyes closed. It didn’t look like he was asleep, but he was definitely dozing off.

“Nico, hey, you gotta get up and eat. No sleeping yet,” Will spoke softly, hoping not to startle the son of Hades. Nico made a disgruntled noise but dutifully sat up, moving his bandaged shoulder around as he stretched.

“Hey, don’t move your shoulder so much,” Will chided.

“It’s uncomfortable,” Nico pouted.

“It’s healing, which may be an unfamiliar feeling to you, but that’s what’s supposed to happen.” Will settled the food between them and sat on the end of Nico’s bed.

“It’s not good for fighting,” Nico commented, and Will nearly choked on his fruit.

“Yeah, you’re not meant to be battle-ready at the moment, di Angelo.” Will leveled a glare at his patient, to which Nico simply shrugged as he picked up a sandwich.

They chatted a little as they ate, both of them mostly focused on the food. After clearing the plate away, Nico settled back against the bed while Will once again grabbed his clipboard and sat in his chair.

“One last thing before I let you rest again.” Will took a deep breath before continuing. “I remember feeling a lot of darkness in you at the end of the battle. I still felt it yesterday when I did my preliminary assessment, but I’d like to get a full picture of what we’re dealing with.” Will looked to Nico for confirmation, who solemnly nodded.

Will held both of his hands out, and Nico placed his hands on top, reaching over to grip Will’s wrists. The hold was a lot firmer and less comforting than the last time they held hands. They both understood the importance of this assessment. Will shut his eyes and concentrated. It felt like Will sent out feelers from where he connected with Nico, seeking out all of the issues in Nico’s body. The healer had to push past any of the physical injuries they previously discussed, focusing only on that sensation of darkness he remembered from during the battle. He thought about Nico’s shadow-traveling abilities, the dark swirls of energy emanating from his hands last night, the stories he heard about Nico fading out of existence. He could not—would not—let something like that happen again. Not when he was around to do something about it.

Will shuddered as he encountered large amounts of darkness spread throughout Nico’s body. It was much less than a few days ago, but last night’s incident didn’t help any. It was hard to describe, but the deep, swirling shadows felt contradictory to Will’s very soul.

Will gasped as the connection suddenly broke off. He looked up to find Nico sweating and staring at him, his hands held close to his chest.

“Nico?” Will breathed. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”

“What? No, you—” Nico’s eyebrows drew together in worry. “You looked like you were in pain. I thought I was hurting you.”

“Oh,” Will gulped, smoothing his sweaty hands down his shorts. “No, no you didn’t hurt me. I was just… there’s a lot there. Darkness. I—I’m not sure how to deal with it.”

Nico looked sad but resigned when he lowered his gaze to his lap. “Sorry,” he whispered, almost so quiet that Will didn’t hear.

“No, hey,” Will’s hand hovered over Nico’s knee, unsure if his touch was welcome. When Nico didn’t pull away, he took it as a sign and settled his hand down in a reassuring gesture. “We’ll figure it out, Nico. You’re not at risk of fading, thank the gods. But,” he let out a frustrated puff of air. “We’ll have to figure out how to purge the rest of the darkness out so you can better use your powers without risk.”

The son of Hades tentatively looked up at Will, his brown eyes wide with worry and the barest hint of hope. “So, I didn’t… hurt you?”

It did something to his heart, that Nico so strongly cared for Will yet immediately pinned the problem on himself. “No, you didn’t. I promise, I’m fine.” He sent him his most sincere smile, to which Nico breathed a sigh of relief and untensed a little.

Will leaned back and mumbled to himself as he noted his observations on Nico’s papers. He then put it aside, feeling a bit tired from using his powers all day. He turned to Nico, who was fiddling with his skull ring and bouncing his knee nervously. “I think,” Will started, causing Nico to still his movements and face the healer, “that we’ve done enough for today. You need to rest more, I think that’s the best thing for your body right now.”

Will waited for acknowledgement before adding, “Nico, I promise that we will figure out the best way to help you fully recover. I care a lot about you—r well-being.” _Nice save, Will_. “I want you to be at your best. But you’re going to have to trust me, okay? I know it might be asking a lot. You probably don’t remember me from before—”

“I do.”

Will blinked. “You… you do?”

Nico nodded, avoiding eye contact. “You were a medic during the battle of Manhattan, too. Saved a lot of lives.” He turned to face Will. “I trust you. At least that much.”

The son of Apollo was stunned silent for a few seconds. He did not expect Nico di Angelo, hero of two wars now, to remember him. He might’ve teared a little, blinking and turning away so that Nico didn’t notice. “You had to add on that last part, huh?”

They shared a small laugh. “Well, all I know about you is your favorite color, Solace.” Will glanced back over his shoulder to see Nico settling back in his bed, eyes already drooping.

“We’ll have to work on that, then,” he smirked. “Good night, Neeks.”

“Night, Will.”


	3. Day 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reposted to ff.n WITH PERMISSION by my collab partner~ nicostolemybones

Nico couldn't sleep. He'd tried- and by tried, he meant closed his eyes for two hours, but his thoughts wouldn't stop racing. It was finally hitting him what a diagnosis of a chronic pain condition would truly mean. It meant pain wasn't temporary. It meant he wouldn't recover. It meant he was disabled. And that wasn't a bad thing, or a new thing- but it changed how he viewed his capabilities. He'd always had aches and pains in general, from fatigue and malnourishment he was sure, chronic nausea too. He knew he'd need more tests to determine the exact condition- there was a fair amount of damage to his limbs from the various injuries, nerve damage that flared up, and aches from the constant fatigue made worse by the damp, but his back had started to really hurt more over time, especially in the mornings. It was a deep, dull ache. His back and hips and shoulders ached and his dumb eyes were prone to inflammation and light sensitivity and blurred vision and his posture was terrible but honestly some days his pain stopped him getting out of bed of a morning.

He reached across his bed for the notes Will had made, skimming them. There were vague notes about watching out for fusing vertebrae and fractures and curvature and further breathing issues and future heart issues- something to do with the aorta and a risk of the valve- something going wrong with it, and that Arthur thing old people get in their joints (arthritis) and some other thing Nico wasn't even going to pretend to understand. Will's writing was terrible, and Nico was confused about ankles and spores written on the page (it did not, in fact, say anything about ankles ankles and spores, just that Will predicted it may have been ankylosing spondylitis, but he'd to run way more tests because onset was usually early adulthood and he couldn't rule out other conditions yet).

Nico put the notes away- he could barely understand them, and honestly, he didn't really want to. Especially because he'd barely been here a few days and Will couldn't accurately diagnose something that fast. He rolled onto his side, although rolling onto werewolf scratches was apparently horrendously painful, so he rolled back onto his back with a huff, gave up, and sat up in bed. Insomnia was here to stay and Nico craved death. 

He reached for his water, ecstatic to find a small collection of pills- he didn't bother checking what they were- he just hoped they took the pain away. He stared at the wall, contemplating his life from now on. Maybe he'd have access to mobility aids that would help him get around easier, but also he might have to cut down on his training. He didn't know what to think. The idea of finally having answers appealed to him greatly, but he wasn't sure if he was going to get the answers he truly wanted. That wasn't anybody's fault, though. He decided not to dwell on it until he knew more. 

Given the fact he'd be awake a while, he decided to make his way to the bathroom to take a long shower- and he realised he didn't even remember the last time he had showered, or really even stripped his clothes off completely for more than a few seconds. The water was so warm on his body, yet the patter of water was an intrusive sensation he wasn't used to. He was used to sink washes and river washes and bucket washes by now.

His skin was grey. Grey with patches of clean skin where he'd scratched, but otherwise otherwise a flaky grey brown tinge masked the olive skin beneath. He knew his hair was badly matted, and regretted that he'd most likely have to cut it out, both out of shame and pain prevention. He remembered the time when he was a little younger and his hair hadn't been brushed for a while, and it took five hours and a lot of crying to get his hair smooth again. 

Nico was shaking. The dirt was so ingrained in his skin that this was his third time soaping himself up, flannel white with dead flakes of skin, trying to make his skin as clear as possible, although he was beginning to suspect that some of the mottled grayish tone over his olive brown skin was more to do with poor health. He'd been in the shower for so long his legs were aching and he was shaking despite the aid of a shower chair, and as Nico cupped his hip joint in his hand, he let out a shaky sob at the realisation that he'd lost weight. He felt fragile, weak, scared- because this wasn't healthy, he wasn't healthy, and he'd been so caught up in the trauma of war that he hadn't noticed the toll it was taking on his body. 

He wanted to be healthy. He wanted his skin to return its usual healthy rich tan, he wanted the dull shade of pallor to fade. He looked like a ghost, or like a fresh corpse, drained of colour like there was no blood beneath the darker melanin of his skin. He was paler than he had been as a bouncy kid, sick.

As soon as he was clean enough he exited the shower, looking in the mirror whilst he leaned against the sink to catch his breath. His eyes were sunken, the delicate flesh below looking almost bruised in its grey/purple discolouration, and he looked… normal.

It surprised him. 

Because he was so sure his distress was obvious, but he could only really see it in the dull pleading expression he wore in his eyes, the rest of his face neutral, maybe angry at best. He experimented with a pained expression, one so deeply ingrained into muscle memory that it almost felt more natural than resting, and almost cried when he saw he looked angry- or at least, what people told him angry was supposed to look like. He slowly closed his eyes, taking a shaky breath before towelling himself off and picking up his clothes.

His clothes… now they were off his body and his sinuses were full of steam and the pleasant aroma of carbolic soap, he was finally able to detect that his clothes smelled like sour milk at best. The pits of his shirt were stained and particularly pungent, and Nico felt so ashamed that he hadn't noticed. The shirt was stained with various foods, months old, and there were small holes everywhere, like it was mothbitten or badly worn. His jeans smelled like eyeball dissections, a weird smell that whilst not exactly intense certainly wasn't pleasant by normal standards, a slight smell of rotting fresh too- and Nico supposed his skin had been flaking and rotting, confirmed by the inside of his jeans, which was coated liberally in dead skin cells that seemed stubborn to shift despite the copious amounts that fell to the floor. The denim was shiny and worn in some parts, and he decided not to give any more thought to the state of his jeans after thinking about all the lack of sanitation and choice that came with tartarus and the jar. 

Nico never wanted his clothes to be discovered. He never wanted anybody to see the state they were in, the stains he didn't want to think about, or the smell of bad hygiene. He scrubbed them furiously in the sink, but he never wanted to wear them again, too small and too worn and too tight and too dirty and too traumatic- he'd endured so much trauma whilst in these clothes. He threw them in the bin, pulling off as much tissue as possible to shove over the top of his clothes in the bin, hoping the weight of them wouldn't raise suspicion.

And then it dawned on him that almost everything he owned was now in the bin so he scrambled to fetch them back out and scrub them until his skin was irritated, but he could swear that he could still smell every unpleasant stain and every unpleasant sweat patch and every unpleasant smell from the garbage. He hadn't realised that the blur to his vision was significantly worse, hindered and impaired and impeded by the hot rush of tears and panic as he pulled on his wet clothes. 

He eventually sat back in the bed, cold and wet and hair still matted, his curls damaged and matting worse after months of no care and Nico using the wrong soap. He was shivering violently, but the cold felt almost comforting, a chilled relief he never had in Tartarus. It granted him some relief from the encompassing heat spreading through his body at patchy memories of Tartarus, but he had so much racing through his heads that it wasn't even a prominent thought or a flashback. 

The cold soon became insidious, like the cold of the shadows, the dark, the sensation of fading, numb, intangible. His focus still didn't pick just one thought, but now he was hyperaware of them- from the burning throat from the waters of the Phlegathon to the icy nothingness of shadows, to the intrusive thoughts of graphic violence and horrifyingly strange acts of self mutilation to mental bombardment with his triggers.

He felt like existence was this room, was the bedsheets he voila numbly trust and a door with a light void upon the other side. It felt like the rest of the world didn't really exist, like it couldn't exist, because he couldn't perceive, interact with, or process and comprehend that it was real. It felt like he wasn't real, dissociated, seeing and suffering but not there, like he was in a dream or a coma. Was he?

He didn't have time to dwell on it, the sudden nauseous drop in his gut and the lump in his throat and tightening in his chest signifying the start of a panic attack.

The problem was, Nico was either terrible at controlling them, or did not outwardly react at all. The first option usually involved lots of zombies and dead plants, whilst the second usually meant people trying to hug him and talk to him during sensory overload. This time, Nico was alone and he needed to scream it out, but when he tried, he found himself non-verbal.

Everything felt off and it was too bright, too loud, too dark, too clinical- although he'd lost his sense of smell and taste, so thankfully, the clinical scent of antiseptic and blood couldn't assault his senses. But that didn't stop the shrill metallic beep of the heart monitor from giving Nico sharp jolts of pain, the small lights on the various monitors far too bright whilst the electric buzzing of the electrical outlets filled his head- and they all sounded different, because of different devices, which made it worse. And it was blindingly dark in the room now, which made the shadows whisper in a way that had his head pounding, trying to process if they were even real, and it was all just too much-

He clamped his hands painfully over his ears and squeezed his eyes shut so tightly that he could feel the strain in his cheeks. He tugged at his hair, not even a distressed whimper or a cry for help able to escape, trapped by his own lack of voice in a time of distress.

His brain was shutting down and melting down, the racing thoughts unable to process like a browser with too many tabs open, nothing pausing but nothing closing, frozen with plenty of horrifying podcasts and videos playing with no pause at the same time, only it felt like they could touch him, and he couldn't shut them off.

He had nothing left to comfort himself, no way to voice his distress, only able to rock back and fourth in a vain attempt to soothe himself as the onslaught continued, and all he could do was sit there and cry hysterically for hours, hours of distress until…

How long had he been… staring at the wall for?

Nico shivered, emotionally and physically drained. He knew he was still non-verbal, so he didn't call for help. He briefly considered the panic button, but he didn't want to be a burden over a now resolved emotional breakdown of some kind. There had been flashbacks and sensory overload and he was pretty sure he'd experienced some kind of meltdown or shutdown, but he wasn't exactly a stranger to them.

He sat in his bed until the sky began to turn blue and the smallest hints of light eased the crawling feeling of the insidious, suffocating dark of a confined space, a closed door room, a claustrophobic nightmare.

-

Much to Will's chagrin, he woke to find several of the infirmary's plants officially dead, although as his sleep induced haze lifted with the stabilising buzz of caffeine to help organise his thoughts, he processed that Nico must have had a bad night. He grabbed a quick breakfast and some for Nico and rushed there as quick as he could. 

Nico most certainly hadn't slept, his face puffy with both exhaustion and crying. He took a moment to observe, and Nico didn't seem to notice his presence, dissociated. It wasn't until Will moved his hand and little too fast that Nico suddenly snapped out of it, his hypervigilance kicking in as he flinched harshly, looking just about ready to put up a fight. 

"It's okay," Will began gently, backing away slightly to show his intentions weren't to violate Nico's personal space boundaries. He waited until Nico visibly relaxed enough to hunch his shoulders before he proceeded to step fully into the room and take a seat on the chair besides him. Nico looked up at him with what looked like hope, or maybe a pleading expression- maybe something mistaken for anger in different circumstances, and whilst Will struggled to read people's emotions sometimes, he'd begun to learn Nico's, folding his expressions away neatly in a mental schema full of flowcharts amend checklists designed to accurately mentally code for different emotions. 

Will had certainly observed levels of hypervigilance in Nico, but the way he would glance between the door and the shadows had Will distinctly concerned for his mental wellbeing- he appeared paranoid, skittish, and Will had on occasion poked his head around to find Nico mumbling to the shadows. Will had no way of knowing if that was because of genuine shadows or some form of psychosis that Nico seemed familiar with handling well on his own. He'd considered asking Hazel, but she may not have the exact same powers as Nico, and may not have been able to reliably tell Will whether the whispering shadows were normal or not if she didn't experience them herself. He'd have to ask Hades somehow. But not right now.

Will also didn't need a professional to tell him that Nico was severely depressed- he'd experienced it enough himself to know how to recognise it, and given the trauma that Will already knew about Nico, there was no logical way that Nico could be okay. 

Most demigods presented with symptoms of PTSD, and he recognised the most similarities between Percy and Annabeth and Nico's symptoms and severity, most likely because to some degree they had the shared trauma of Tartarus. Some demigods with traumatic backgrounds had gone on to develop some form of psychotic disorder, or OCD or eating disorders, and there were a few traumagenic systems at camp who Will had gotten to know personally. So Nico having C-PTSD wasn't a surprise. Of course, Will needed a lot more time than a few days to accurately assess and diagnose Nico, but he was fairly confident that Nico was presenting with many symptoms of PTSD and likely had been long enough to officially meet the criteria for a PTSD diagnosis.

And then there was Nico's overall neurodivergence- of course, the ADHD and dyslexia were confirmed, but Will suspected that Nico could be on the spectrum, like Will was. Autism wasn't uncommon in demigods either, sharing many similarities to ADHD. They were practically brain cousins. 

Will pulled himself out of his musings, focusing on how to talk to the trembling boy before him. His clothes looked wet, and Nico made as if to speak before looking sadly down, shrugging and offering a half smile greeting that Will had become familiar with during Nico's quieter days. Nico struggled anyways with communicating and expressing his emotions, and he was even worse at reading them- as a general rule, unless he knew you well, Nico didn't appear to pick up on body language cues indicating someone's distress unless they cried or explicitly stated how they felt. Yet, once Nico was clued in, and was able to rationalise the situation by drawing parallels and drawing from his own personal experiences, Nico tended to grasp a very nuanced and deep understanding of exactly how somebody was feeling, allowing him to better empathise- what was Will's point again? 

Will let out a frustrated huff, wishing his brain to just do the focus thing on his patient. And then he realised he hadn't taken his meds in a few days and oh. That explained it. Will realised he definitely hadn't showered in like- at least a week, and he definitely needed a shower but his usual soaps were in his cabin and he couldn't be bothered to get them- but he could use that deodorant, the musk one with the cinnamon and citrus undertones in the black spray can or he could just use old spice but what about his strawberry shampoo would it go-

Will took a deep breath, looking back to Nico. Right. Doctor, patient, mental health- Will absolutely needed to suddenly start a full on a case study project- no, never mind, focus. Somehow. Please. Right. Okay. Breathe.

Will gave Nico a gentle smile, taking out his stim putty to squish in his hand to ground himself and focus better. Nico usually would have spoken by now, so Will figured that he must have gone non-verbal- and now Will's focus to do that case study project was gone forever, great, well done, you're a failure Will, oh great, now your mood's dropped, just great- Nico must have had a meltdown maybe, although that didn't explain the damp clothes.

"Hey Neeks," Will began gently, "do you want some fresh clothes?" Nico looked at him pleasingly, before curling in on himself with his knees bunched up and gripping his shirt as though it was a comfort to him. It took Will a moment to decipher, but he figured Nico wanted dry clothes but was reluctant to part with his clothes. 

"I can get you some pyjamas," he said softly, quietly- he didn't want to overwhelm Nico if the guy had just had a meltdown, because sensory overload sucked. "You could put your clothes on the chair to dry." Nico seemed to consider that, before giving a slight frown and pout, but a slight smile. He was considering it, but still reluctant.

"The pyjamas are cotton," Will continued, "with the labels cut out, and the seam is sewn down so it isn't scratchy." Nico nodded jerkily, and Will smiled reassuringly, standing up slowly with a determined look in his eye. "I'll go get those for you, we don't want you catching hypothermia now, do we? You don't need pneumonia with the state of your lungs right now."

Will fetched the pyjamas and granted Nico the privacy to change whilst he quickly took his meds- which reminded him to set about figuring out a treatment plan for Nico going forwards- then returned to see the pyjamas fitted well and Nico looked comfortable, discreetly rubbing the soft fabric against his cheek, eyes closed. Will liked the smell of the fresh linen more than he liked the feel of them, but Nico appeared to be touch sensitive, perhaps explaining why he was so easily overwhelmed by touch. Will had a sense of smell like a sniffer dog, and hearing that left him unable to find silence or sleep without loud music blaring through his headphones.

"Does that feel any better," Will asked, and Nico nodded, turning pink and smiling slightly. "Is it okay if I ask you some questions and you can nod or shake your head? Nod if yes, shake your head if you need some time first, it's okay. Nico nodded gingerly, and Will gave a gentle smile.

He went through the standard questionnaires first, looking for markers of depression and anxiety levels, and finding, unsurprisingly, that Nico was at crisis point. Will briefly considered keeping Nico in the infirmary, but he didn't see Nico as particularly needing that kind of treatment. Nico would be better coping in comfort. 

Nico gradually became verbal again, and finally Will was able to investigate deeper. Nico was slowly beginning to open up, and Will was more than happy to listen, perhaps a little intrigued.

"It feels like… I'm not here, like I don't exist. Like I'm just… observing, but I'm not… feeling. It feels like I'm in warm heavy water, and I'm stood outside, and inside is bright and colourful, but I don't have the energy to move my limbs and step inside. Sometimes I'm able to say hello but I can't move when I'm invited in, I can only stand there. And I want to, I want to go inside. But I can't, and instead of coming outside to me, people carry on the party, and I'm just… outside, creepy. To them, I'm a disembodied voice, and ghost in the dark. An apparition with a slightly off centre smile and an unsettling artificial expression. I'm in an alley and I beckon them and they freak and run. I'm like something from The Magnus Archives to them, like the Angler Fish episode. And I don't feel empty, I feel… heavy, but like I'm on cotton wool. Everything feels off, all of the time, too dark and too bright all together, like shining objects in low light. I want to scream for help, and I am screaming, but nothing comes out. And when I scream I scream loud and their eyes turn in and their ears fold back and their mouths seal shut and their hands become bound and they carry on as though everything is perfectly normal, like I never even existed in the first place. They turn a blind eye because I make them uncomfortable, not realising how uncomfortable they make me too. And it buries me in a warm coffin, scratching to be let out whenever somebody uses me."

Will didn't know how to respond to that. There was no sane way to respond to that. Partly because Will had a vivid imagination and now had a horrifyingly graphic mental image in his head that was guaranteed to give him nightmares tonight. But Will loved horror, so he ended up distracted thinking of Nico as a horror podcaster. Occasionally his voice took on a velvet husk with a slow manner of speaking that made his voice perfect for horror. The other times, it was horribly squeaky and breaking. Then Will remembered that he was procrastinating assessing Nico's mental health. "You should be a horror writer," Will said, to buy himself some time to process and respond.

"I wanna do scare acting or horror podcasts," Nico replied, "so people are supposed to find me creepy. It hurts when I'm not trying to be creepy and people find me creepy. But if I'm intentionally creepy, I can make it fun, and maybe, when I reveal the real me, it's such a far cry from my scaresona that they don't register me as creepy."

"Scaresona-" Will repeated, trying to fully process that like it was a cursed post on tumblr.

"Yeah," Nico replied casually, "maybe a zombie because I feel like one. I wouldn't be a ghost, because I'm already invisible."

"You're not invisible to me, Nico," Will cemented in ages firm but gentle tone. "You matter, I'm listening to you, and I believe everything that you are saying to be true. You're not faking or attention seeking- actually scrap that, the term should be support seeking- I believe that your struggles are valid and I would like to support you through this."

"Thanks, Will…" Nico began, mouth open as if to say something when the infirmary doors burst open. There was yelling, and Will's pager beeped not soon after, and he had to prioritise the medical emergency first. 

"I'll try be back later, definitely in the morning, okay? Take care, death boy!" And with that, Will switched to clinical cold emergency combat medic. Didn't mean he was quite used to the bad smells, though. Nobody ever really was. He vaguely remembered the joke spray liquid ass was used by the military to train combat medics for the smell of the battlefield, and with one last thought to the ironic hilarity of that, Will was at the side of the patient and ready to save a life.


	4. Plus 1

Will didn't get back until morning, and Nico felt a little empty. He hadn't gotten to get to know Will as much as he'd have hoped to, and whilst he was happy at the prospect of being let out of this place, he'd kinda miss Will's company. He hadn't fully processed why he was so drawn to Will until he'd realised the skeletal butterflies were more than just social anxiety, and now? Now Nico had one mood and that mood was gay panic. 

Because now, in order to interact with Will, he'd actually have to approach him, and if there was one thing guaranteed to make Nico go non-verbal, it was approaching people. And Nico would probably freak out and kill all the plants out of nervousness anyway, so, he was thoroughly screwed and isolated if he left the infirmary today. So that left him with the crazy plan of pretending to still be sick or injured, but, that was crazy and obsessive and Will would know he was faking it anyway, so, Nico was doomed to admiring the cute kind guy from afar, and whilst being friends with the cute guy with feelings involved probably would have gotten messy in the long run, the cute guy was still a genuinely kind person Nico would like to have been good friends with, but no, he was destined to be lonely, of course. 

Nico took a deep breath. Over thinking his gay panic really didn't work out well, ever. 

By this point, he was sitting up in the hospital bed hoping to keep his hospital pyjamas after he was discharged, but also desperately hoping that he wasn't discharged or that Will would maybe wanna spend some time with him. He doubted it, but he still craved it, of course. 

It was several hours before Will bounced into the infirmary with a bright grin and a bright glow and an even brighter smile- seriously, just what was this guy putting on his teeth they shined- Nico huffed, realising he hadn't seen a dentist in years, and, much to his chagrin, Will was carrying several leaflets about root canals, fillings, extractions, and braces. You admit to having a dental abscess once and suddenly hot boys want to poke around in your mouth with pointy drills.

"No," Nico said with a warning scowl, but Will beamed at him, his own blue rhinestone braces showing, and honestly? Nico would let this boy take his kidney if he asked. "Okay, fine," Nico relented, fixing Will with a playful glare, "but I want black ones fitted."

"Cool!" Will beamed, "we'll get you booked in for next week for your extractions! Then the root canals, then the fillings, and finally braces!"

"Joy(!)" Nico rolled his eyes, picking at an itchy patch of acne on his cheek. Will had quite a few acne scars on his, although he was also currently going through an acne flare-up right now too.

"So! Are you ready to be discharged today? I just gotta sort out your prescription and book you in for check-ups, then you can go!"

"Can't wait," Nico said with a grin, and Will smiled back, dumping all the leaflets on the hospital table.

"I, will be right back!" Will announced, bouncing on the balls of his feet, "You should get changed, I won't be very long! smell you later!" Nico snorted and rolled his eyes, watching Will leave before letting out a frustrated huff. He supposed he should probably do as he was told and get dressed without arguments.

Will didn't take long to return, as promised, holding a bag of medications for Nico. "Okay, all that's left to sort out now is your discharge papers," Will said, "then I'll process them and book your future appointments, and you can go. You never have to see me again!" 

Nico didn't pick up on Will's joking tone effectively, frowning. "Or maybe we could… see each other outside of the infirmary and hang out together?" 

Will flushed darkly, a blotchy wine blush spreading over his now ruddy cheeks. Nico cringed internally- he'd gone way too far in asking to be friends, and he'd almost definitely creeped Will out by now, no doubt about it. "Uh- I'd love to! It's a date! I, uh, didn't realise you were into me too, otherwise I'd have asked you out a lot sooner!"

Wait. What? Nico almost corrected him by saying he'd meant as friends, before the smart part of his brain, thankfully, shut him up and prevented him from doing so. He'd just accidentally asked out Will Solace, who had confessed that he'd wanted to ask Nico out first. Nico wasn't going to screw that up now. No way. "It's a date," Nico confirmed, turning a dark cherry puce at the realisation that he'd just rather embarrassingly accidentally asked his crush out, and that now, apparently, he had a date with a boy. 

It didn't take very long for Will to sort out all the appropriate paperwork, and he was rather endearingly smitten with Nico, generally more relaxed around him, save for the bright glow. Nico was going to need sunglasses, it seemed. It was… really cute, actually.

Nico had to leave, though- after all, he had a date to plan on a whim, so, with the hope of pulling off some miracle, he told Will to meet him in the strawberry fields before dinner. Will, of course, gladly accepted it, and Nico silently congratulated himself for being smooth.

He headed to his cabin first, pacing around. He needed an idea… a picnic? That was romantic, and Will loved picnics. Maybe Nico could cook and bake, could leave the food on the hot plate and pull it out of the shadows, a private, romantic dinner date, but in the casual format of a non-pressured picnic. That… was actually a good plan, Nico mused. He could totally pull that off, no problem. He just needed a suit, something he could bother his father about, of course.

-

Will was beyond excited. He'd been on dates before, of course. He'd dated two others in the past, although one girl found him too intense and was pretty biphobic to him, one boy was only in it to date a doctor, and the agender person he dated had to move away. So whilst Will had been on dates before, he was a little nervous of things going wrong. 

Which lead him to his current predicament. His siblings had evacuated the cabin and left him alone. Usually he'd love the prospect of being completely alone for a while with no siblings in the cabin and no interruptions to whatever alone time activity he decided to do in that time, but this time, they'd evacuated the cabin because he'd screeched and squealed and stressed so much about his date that they'd decided to simply leave him to it.

Will had the entire contents of his wardrobe strewn across his bed, had tried on the same outfits several times, and had screamed into the void. He wanted to look cute, and babey, but also hot and handsome. He had so many pastel clothes and he could look pretty adorable in them, but again, he wanted to be hot, and Nico would probably be all dressed up. But, then again, being his authentic self was best.

He usually wore clothes that clashed, purely because he could, and he wanted to, so he did. He picked out a pastel lilac hoodie, a little oversized, and some pastel pink and blue jeans where one leg was pink and the other was blue. He figured he looked pretty bi, and he put on some pastel mint trainers to top off his look. He was dressed casually, but more presentable than usual, like he'd made the effort but also like he felt comfortable to be himself too.

He looked to his hair. He had natural curls, although he looked after them terribly- they were salt damaged from all his time spent in the sea at the beach, and he didn't take care of them beyond shampoo- and, unfortunately, dry shampoo more than actual shampoo. So his hair was full of split ends, rougher to the touch then they should have been, and being as he rarely brushed it, he usually had to spend some time working out matts with his detangle spray, which really wasn't made for curly hair and honestly made it ten times worse. 

He wasn't very gentle when he brushed it, either, so he ended up with a sore scalp and a palmful of hair, wondering how the hell Nico's curls were back to looking beautiful again after so much damage.

It had to be witchcraft, Will was sure of it.

He wanted the date to go well, badly, and he didn't want to be running late, so he hurried as quick as he could to get ready. He hoped that he was a good date for Nico, because he really liked him, and he kinda really wanted to impress him. He grabbed his stim toy, counting down the minutes until he'd be meeting Nico, except they'd set a vague time, so Will figured he'd give it about half an hour.

-

Nico cursed loudly, pulling his hand back. He really should not have stuck his hand on the ring to make sure that it was hot enough. He shook his hand, quickly running it under cold water before glaring at the hob as though it could possibly comprehend what it had just done to him enough to feel guilty for it.

He returned to the stove nonetheless, and fixated like a mad scientist on perfecting his food- it had to be perfect. This was a date, and Nico was Italian, dammit, and he'd had to threaten the Stolls not to give him penne lisce because he needed tagliatelle for this and he refused to touch penne lisce with a ten foot pole. That didn't mean he was particularly good at cooking though, so he'd had to rope in some help in the form of Percy, who helped his mom with the cooking and cooked a lot for Annabeth. He picked it up pretty quickly, though, once he'd figured out how to use an oven. Time was ticking away, so Nico quickly went to get changed whilst Percy watched the stove for him.

His dad had, thankfully, sent him a suit to wear, simple black with a dark red shirt and a black bow tie, which Nico had to go and fetch Reyna to help him with. Needless to say, she was a little surprised at his impromptu shadow travelling into her bathroom, being as she was showering at the time, so that had certainly been awkward, but she helped him with the knot and an offer to gut Will like a fish in the event that he mess up, so he quickly shadow travelled back ready for his date.

He managed to plate it up on his own, placing the food on a hot plate to keep it warm, before shadow travelling to the strawberry fields ready for his date. Will wasn't here yet, which gave Nico the opportunity to lay out a picnic blanket and make the area look presentable. He radiated a slight death aura just to keep the ants away, and lighted a candle or two which he kept weighed down to make sure that he didn't accidentally set Will on fire. After all, that would be a terrible first date experience, for both of them.

He was anxious about whether Will would change his mind or not, whether somebody would see him on a date with a boy before he was fully out. He had an irrational fear that this was all an elaborate practical joke, the kind girls at camp had played on him before, only designed to mock and ridicule his sexuality, but then he reminded himself that Will wasn't like that, and besides, he wanted this with his whole being, so of course, he didn't regret his plan and he vowed to himself that he wouldn't regret it even if Will didn't show up.

Will did show up.

And he was breathtaking. 

-

Will couldn't believe his luck. Nico looked… he looked stunning. He looked nervous too, smoothing his hair back and flushing puce, but he was in a suit, an expensive looking suit for a picnic. Will almost felt underdressed, but he could see in Nico's eyes that Nico found him beautiful. Will couldn't doubt that he did when the boy looked at him with such gentle affection and awe. 

Will sat down slowly, a blotchy blush spreading down his cheeks as he noticed how the rest of the world seemed to fade away, the strawberry plants providing a nice level of cover and shade without making the space feel too closed in. Will was about to ask about the food when Nico reached into the shadows and pulled out a plate of pasta, placing it in front of William before grabbing his own, and Will decided that this was already the best picnic he'd ever had. 

"You made a romantic meal for a picnic?" Will asked with a shy blush, and Nico nodded with a half shrug.

"I wanted our first date to be special and memorable," Nico said, looking down shyly, "you're the first guy I've ever… been on a date with, and I want it to be memorable."

"It's amazing, Nico," Will replied gently, "best date I've ever been on already."

"What if you decide I'm weird or creepy," Nico asked nervously, and Will shook his head adamantly.

"You're a human being," Will replied, "and my friend, and hopefully maybe more, and if I found you creepy, I wouldn't be sitting here now."

"I…ve never had a- a boyfriend before," Nico added nervously, fiddling with his fingers and looking up slowly, and oh… gods, Will melted.

"We can figure it out, together," Will said softly, reaching over nervously to brush his hand against Nico's. Nico pushed lightly against his hand in reciprocation, and Will brushed Nico's knuckles with the back of his hand, blushing at the little gasp that Nico let out from the sensation.

Will decided to be a little bolder, curling his fingers around Nico's own until their palms were pressed together. Nico looked down at their hands, and then up at Will, and it was clear in his awestruck expression that he wasn't used to this kind of affection. Will squeezed his hand, watching the puce blush on Nico's cheeks spread down his neck. Will leaned in a little closer, gently kissing his cheek, but hesitating before he pulled back. He stayed close, eyes searching Nico's face for some sign of consent. 

If Will was honest, he'd never had his first kiss, and he hoped it wasn't too soon but he really wanted to kiss Nico, providing Nico wanted to kiss him too, of course. He chickened out, clearing his throat awkwardly and finally turning his attention back to his food.

He immediately noticed how it was most certainly home cooked, because it looked to be too good a quality to possibly have been a ready meal. It smelled amazing, and Will took his first bite. It was warm, and comforting flavour, yet not overpowering on the palette. It reminded him of his mama's cooking- not because the flavours were similar- because they weren't, his mom always used the smooth penne pasta- but because he could tell that it was made with love. Or, rather, affection, at least.

It was a little nippy, and Will noticed Nico leaning into his warmth slightly. Will made a silent note to himself to cuddle Nico sometime, finding himself suspecting that Nico may quite enjoy hugging him, for a while. 

"Have-... have you ever had a boyfriend?" Nico asked nervously, and Will blushed a little. 

"Not exactly," Will replied, "all my past dates kind of… didn't work out. So far you're probably the best date I've ever had." Nico blushed at that, both boys giggling slightly as they resumed eating. They fell into a comfortable silence, although the conversation soon picked up after eating.

Will learned that Nico really liked all kinds of music, even if he learned more towards alternative music. He liked pirates and vampires and reading, he played mythomagic, which was a shared hyperfixation, they both liked horror podcasts, and both really loved junk food. Even where they didn't have shared interests, they still had chemistry and an easy vibe between them.

Will finally decided to bite the bullet, taking a deep breath before speaking. "Hey Nico…"

"Hm?" Nico furrowed his brows, looking up at Will with a mix of curiosity and trepidation.

"Is it okay if I like maybe try and like- uh- kiss you? Like, on the lips?" Will felt himself go red, although he saw Nico physically turn red. 

"I- uh- you- wanna kiss me?" Nico looked shocked, and Will hoped that he hadn't crossed a boundary.

"Uhm… yeah? If- if that's okay!"

"Uh- yes! You uh- you can- um- yeah. You can kiss me."

"Cool! I'm uh… kissing you now, uh… ha." Will took about few seconds to calm his nerves, before pressing his lips to Nico's in a gentle kiss. It was softer than he imagined, more tasteless, but also so much better than he imagined it could be. His first gay kiss was pretty great.

-

Nico was freaking out in all the best ways, because he was actually kissing a dude. His lips were pressed against a guy's lips, he was kissing him. They were kidding, two boys, in a strawberry field, being gay together. 

Nico felt alive.

His heart was pounding wildly, nerves intense and distracting as he kissed back softly, because he was finally allowing himself to act on his gay feelings, to be queer, to engage in a homosexual act, kissing another man. 

And it was perfect. 

The kiss was sweet and tender and rough and manly all at once, then Will was cupping his jaw and Nico was melting because his calloused hands felt so big and manly against Nico's cheek. Will began tracing his jaw with his finger, and Nico let out a soft whimper, knees like jelly, reaching up to cup Will's jaw and oh… he had stubble and it felt so masculine and hot, and when Will let out a soft gasp, Nico had to pull back to stop the escape of any embarrassing sounds.

Will looked beautiful. His skin was completely flushed, lips shiny and slightly kiss swollen, and Nico's brain was screaming because he'd just kissed a boy in a strawberry field for his first kiss, and that felt amazing to realise.

Nico never wanted anything different from life. 

Nico finally felt free.

And that was enough for him.

Will tucked Nico's hair behind his ear, resting their foreheads together with a wide grin. 

"Hey," Will beamed breathlessly.

"Hi," Nico greeted, voice shaky with adrenaline as both boys let out as slightly buzzed laugh, high off the adrenaline of a first gay kiss.

"So, we're really doing this, huh?"

"We're really doing this," Nico confirmed, intertwining their fingers together. 

Nico was filled with a profound sense of pride, and a sense that somehow, things were going to be okay, that things would work out, and that maybe- just maybe, he was going to fall in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was incredibly fun!!!


End file.
